Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony are the Knicks' highest-paid players, but according to two recent reports, they're contributing to the team's recent cold spell. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

The New York
Times and The
Wall Street Journal don't go for the big headlines that usually grace the
back pages of the New York Post and New York Daily News. Whereas New York's
tabloids prefer sensationalism, the city's other papers can take their time to
delve further into a subject, and on Thursday Knicks fans were definitely the
beneficiary of that practice.

The Times' Nate Taylor and the Journal's Chris
Herring did an excellent job examining trends that may have contributed to the
Knicks' recent 4-6 stretch.

Taylor
focused on the frequency with which Carmelo Anthony scores and how that
affects the team as a whole:

In the past month, Anthony has become more of a volume scorer. He had
29 points on 29 field-goal attempts Monday against the Nets. In November, by
contrast, he aspired to be a pinpoint shooter with fewer than 25 attempts a
game.

In 15 games in November, Anthony averaged 20.7
shots. In December, that figure increased to 23. This month, it has climbed to
25.5.

As any Knicks fan can attest, the team has
enjoyed only fleeting moments of success since Anthony reverted to his
high-volume shooting of years past.

As Taylor explained, the more Anthony shoots, the
more opponents can key in on him defensively, which could explain why he's
shooting only 41.7 percent this month after posting a 4.56 percent mark for the
entire season.

Obviously some of that has to do with the absence
of point guard Raymond Felton, who could be coming back from a pinkie injury
this Saturday against the 76ers.

And in Anthony's defense, he's not hearing any
criticism about his shot selection from coach Mike Woodson.

"He's been hovering around 30 points a
game, so he's doing his part," Woodson said, as quoted by Taylor. "Some of the
shots he's taken have been good shots, and he's taken some bad ones. But I don't
find too many shots that Carmelo takes that are bad shots."

Curiously, with those two players out, Woodson hasn't turned to
40-year-old big man Kurt Thomas, who is solid defensively, still rebounds well
and has forever had a nice medium-range shot. Thomas has played in only three
games since the new year began, but his defensive rating—104 points allowed per
100 possessions—is the same as Chandler's.

Beyond that, Thomas's 13.9% rebound rate is
fourth-best on the team, behind [Marcus] Camby, Chandler and [Rasheed] Wallace.
Asked about his rotation, Woodson said that it is a constant process, and that
he is always fine-tuning it to find the right fit.

As we all know, Camby and Wallace are out with foot
injuries, which is why Stoudemire has been pressed into duty at center. But
while even Herring admits putting Stoudemire at the 5 alongside Anthony at
power forward has worked offensively, it has been a disaster on the defensive
end.

Herring reported that the Knicks were outscored by
19.8 points per 48 minutes while Stoudemire played alongside Anthony, Steve
Novak, J.R. Smith and Pablo Prigioni.

A few months ago the Knicks were practically
perfect on offense and defense, but as some players have returned to the court
and others have gone down with injuries, Woodson's squad lost whatever momentum
it once had.

The good news is there's still almost three months
left in the regular season, which is plenty of time for the Knicks to get their
groove back.